Spoiled brats grow up, but they do not all grow out of being spoiled brats.

We have all observed someone behaving like a brat.  Some of the worst examples of entitled, bratty behavior I observe occur in restaurants.  Sadly, almost none of the brats I observe are children.  Perhaps the crankiness that comes with hunger is partly to blame.  Perhaps some folks take too literally what is meant when the person arrives at your table and introduces him or herself as your ‘server.’  I suspect that these are not the only venues in which the bratty-ness rears its ugly head.  It’s just that the restaurant is a place where there are more witnesses to it than perhaps is usual.

When I see that kind of behavior, I often think, “There is a person who is unacquainted with the word ‘no’.”  When I make the observation, I am not thinking kindly of the parents who allowed a spoiled child to grow into a spoiled adult.

King David was such a father.  It had tragic results.  1 Kings 1:6 says this about Adonijah, David’s son: “His father had never at any time displeased him by saying, ‘Why have you done thus and so?’”  Adonijah was unaccustomed to hearing “no.”  He was not held accountable, even by his father who was the king of Israel.  He grew up to be a spoiled, entitled and resentful person.  He was unable to accept his father’s will and God’s will.  He failed to appreciate mercy and forgiveness when they were extended to him.

He didn’t want to settle for what he was given.  He felt entitled to all he desired.  In the end, his entitled selfish ambition cost him his life.

“No” can be the most loving word a parent tells a child.  It’s hard to hear as a child… and as an adult.  We don’t like to have our intentions frustrated.  We don’t like to be questioned or to be called to accountability.  Learning to answer for our behavior and accepting “no” as an answer makes for growth, but it also makes for growing pains.  If we fail to accept these growing pains, we end up being a pain to those around us.  Eventually, we make ourselves miserable too.

Prayer:  Loving Father, give us grace to welcome your guidance; to accept your will, even when it is opposed to our will.  Amen.